The Great Wall of China's Great Wall of People

It's high season for tourists in the world's most populous country.

Not this week. Across the country, people are celebrating the "mid-autumn festival and National Day holidays," according to China Today. And that means that tourism is booming. In Beijing, a record 182,000 tourists visited the Palace Museum on Thursday, the largest number of single day visitors ever. In one 24-hour stretch, officials collected about 8 tons of garbage from Tiananmen Square, a quarter more than last year.

Sites outside of Beijing got their share of visitors as well - the Lushan Mountain's 3,000 parking spaces were filled before midday most days. More than 8,000 cars tried to make their way to the site each day, forcing officials to stop selling tickets.